The Price
by Sophia Hawkins
Summary: AU set after "The Grand Gesture". Matt Casey always stood up for what he believed, no matter what, but sometimes the cost of sticking to your convictions was more than he could've imagined, sometimes more than he could afford.
1. Chapter 1

The Price

"Hey Casey!" Severide strutted over to the Truck captain just outside his quarters, "Guess what I got?"

"Oh I have a better idea," Matt dryly responded, "let's guess which antibiotics you're taking for whatever it is."

Kelly slapped him on the arm with the tickets in his hand, "Somebody tipped Kidd with two tickets to the Blackhawks game next week. Check out the seating, we'll be right by the ice."

"Us?" Casey asked as he took one of the tickets and looked it over.

"Yeah, we haven't been out to a game in a long time."

Casey stared at the ticket for a minute and bit his bottom lip hesitantly. Then, with much obvious difficulty, he handed the ticket back.

"I'm sorry...I'd really like to go, but I can't," Casey said.

Kelly's smile disappeared and his eyebrows knitted together, "What?"

Casey shrugged, "I can't make it that night, I'm sorry...here, you take Kidd, you two will have a great time."

Kelly almost responded 'Somehow I doubt that'. He loved Stella and she was a lot of fun to be with in general, but he would've rather gone to the game with Casey.

Everybody knew what had happened with Gabby, she was 2,000 miles away in Puerto Rico now, and Casey was picking up the pieces of his life, and trying to appear like everything was fine and normal, but Kelly could tell he was down about the whole thing. When Stella came through with the tickets, everything seemed to click for Kelly, the two of them could go out, have a guys' night out, lift Casey's spirits a bit, take his mind off the pending divorce, have fun like they used to. So this came out of nowhere and dropped on Kelly like a bucket of ice water.

"I really appreciate it, but I'm sorry," Casey told him. "Thanks anyway."

Casey turned and headed down the corridor, and Kelly was left there feeling very confused. And apparently he wasn't the only one. Later on the apparatus floor, Otis and Cruz came up to him and asked what was going on with Casey.

"What do you mean?" Kelly asked.

"He's been acting weird for weeks," Otis said, "and I don't know it's just Gabby leaving, something really seems to be eating at him."

"So why're you asking me? You think I know?" Kelly asked.

"No, but he'd actually talk to _you_ before he would us," Cruz answered.

He hated to admit it, but he knew they had a point. If something was wrong, Casey wasn't about to confide in the men working under him, or the guys on Squad for that matter. But whatever it was, would Casey tell _him_ either?

* * *

It wasn't just the game Casey backed out of. Over the next couple weeks Kelly broached the idea of them going out clubbing, or even out to Molly's since neither of them had actually been there for a while. No matter what he suggested, or when he suggested it, Casey couldn't go, for some reason or other, he opted out of all of them, but thanked Kelly for the consideration anyway. Kelly didn't get it, and he asked around one by one to the other guys at 51 to see if anybody had any idea what it was about. Everybody had noticed Casey didn't seem quite himself and he always seemed preoccupied with something, but nobody had any straight answers.

"Hey Kelly," Tony waved him over and told the lieutenant half under his breath, "A couple shifts back Casey got a phone call, whatever it was he started screaming at the guy."

"Did you hear what it was about?" Kelly asked.

Tony shook his head, "He stormed off to his office and shut the door before we could make out any real details. You think he's in some kind of trouble?"

"I don't know," Kelly responded, but he'd made up his mind he was going to find out.

* * *

He waited until the next night to stop by Casey's apartment, he knocked on the door and listened.

"Who is it?"

"It's me, can I come in?"

There was a pause. "Kelly?"

"Yeah," Severide rolled his eyes.

"What is it?" Casey asked.

"Can I come in or not?"

There wasn't a response, but he heard Casey walking towards the door and heard the locks being undone.

"What's up?" Casey asked.

Third time. "Can I come in?"

Casey sighed and held the door open.

"Is something wrong?" Matt asked him.

Kelly caught a glimpse of papers scattered all over the coffee table, and responded, "I was going to ask you the same thing."

"What do you mean?" Casey asked.

"I want to know," Kelly turned to face him, "why you've bailed on every single thing I've suggested over the last 2 weeks."

"I've been busy," Casey said, "I told you that."

"Yeah, but I know you're never this busy, something's up, so what is it?" Kelly asked.

"It's none of your business," Casey told him.

"What?" Kelly wanted to know. "I can understand bailing on the game if it was the only thing, but it's not, it's been everything, what's going on with you?"

"Nothing," Casey insisted.

"Then why are you giving me the brushoff all the time?" Kelly asked. "Did I do something to piss you off? Is that why you're avoiding me like the plague?"

"No, that's not it," Casey shook his head.

"Then what is it, Casey?" Kelly asked. "Why don't you want to hang out anymore?"

"Because..."

Kelly hadn't actually thought he'd get an answer out of Casey, but at that word, even though that's where Casey stopped, Kelly felt a glimmer of hope that he'd get to the bottom of this.

Casey looked at the Squad lieutenant and shook his head, and said lowly, "Because I can't afford it."

Kelly didn't get it. "What do you mean?"

Instead of answering, Casey stepped over to the coffee table, picked up a piece of paper and handed it to Kelly to read over. He did, and what he was looking at wasn't making any sense.

"What is this?" he asked.

"My bank account," Casey said.

Kelly lowered the paper and looked at Casey, "There's nothing in it."

"Tell me about it."

Maybe he was getting closer to an actual explanation but Kelly still couldn't see it. "Casey, are you in some kind of trouble?"

Casey sighed, "Not anymore."

"What's going on?" Severide asked.

Casey closed his eyes, sighed, then sat down on the couch as he explained, "That's the joint account Gabby and I had, it's officially dead and buried."

"Gabby wiped out your account?" Kelly asked in disbelief.

"It didn't take much, there wasn't much left," Casey told him.

Kelly was still confused. "Left from what?"

From the look on Casey's face, he clearly didn't want to get into this, but he could see there wasn't any way out of it now. He leaned back against the cushions and explained to Kelly, "When Gabby and I first moved in together we got a joint account, it made sense at the time...but..."

"What?" Kelly asked.

"Every other week or so, Gabby would mention something she saw that she just had to have, that she thought we needed for the apartment...new furniture, decor, new clothes, stuff for Louie, stuff for Bria, I told her we needed to keep a better handle on our finances incase anything happened, if there was an emergency...but she always had an answer. It was 'You're an alderman now, we can afford it', 'I co-own a bar, we can afford it', 'You just finished a construction job, we can afford it'..."

"Question? Was this part of what you guys were arguing over when she stormed out?" Kelly asked.

Casey weakly laughed, "No, when I was letting her have it of how she never stopped to take me into consideration for anything in our marriage, that was the one thing that slipped my mind, how she played fast and loose with _our_ money. A few days after Gabby stormed out, I got the monthly statement, we were down to $300 in our account and she took it out when she left."

Kelly felt a rock forming in his stomach as a very unpleasant thought came to mind, "Was that..."

Casey shook his head, "No...Gabby didn't know it but I didn't pour all my money into our account, I kept my old one and kept all the paperwork separate, it was a decent amount of money..._was_."

Kelly raised an eyebrow inquiringly, "What happened?"

"Last week I got a call from the credit card company," Casey told him. "Gabby maxed out our credit card, to pay that off..." the rest went without saying.

That must've been what the phone call was about that Tony had witnessed. It made sense to Kelly, if he got a call like that out of the blue, he'd be screaming too.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked.

"How could I?" Casey replied. "How could I ever tell you or _anyone_ something like that?"

"Do you have anything to run on?" Kelly asked.

Casey nodded, "A few thousand, not great but, it'll keep the rent paid up for the time being. At least I can sleep knowing I'm not in debt and there's no interest compounding on anything, and..."

Kelly watched Casey's eyes as he seemed to zone out for a second. "Matt?"

"I ever tell you...I had an aunt that wound up in bankruptcy court?" Casey asked.

Now it was Kelly who stood there with a blank look on his face. He shook his head and answered, "No, I didn't know that."

"Her husband dipped into the receipts from their small business they ran, didn't tell her, bought three new cars, kept them at a storage unit, then divorced her and left her with the bill...a couple guys from the IRS or whoever, kicked in her door at 6 in the morning and dragged her out in her nightgown. The court let her husband walk away Scot free, she was taken right to jail because she couldn't pay the taxes they owed."

"Man!"

Casey shook his head, "I don't know, I guess they're more subtle about it now...but back then...my parents argued about money all the time and I used to worry we'd be taken away too...wind up in court, in jail...it was one of the reasons why they divorced, because they couldn't stop arguing about how much money they were spending, and on what...it was scary."

"I can see that," Kelly said somberly.

"I've been going over everything," Casey gestured to the papers, "and barring any unexpected problems, any emergencies...it's still going to take me six months to get caught up, bare bones."

_Now_ it all made sense.

"So the reason you kept blowing off going to Molly's or to the clubs was-"

"I didn't want to have to explain why I couldn't afford the cover charge, or the tab," Casey answered. "I'm really sorry, Kelly, you have no idea how embarrassing this is. I've worked my whole life and I have _nothing_ to show for it." He glanced around the apartment, "I cancelled the cable, internet, anything I can live without, I got rid of. I was hoping if some construction jobs came in that I could make a bigger dent in it, but the weather's been shit for construction right now."

Kelly didn't know what to say. He sat down on the couch beside Casey and tried to make sense of all this.

"Do me a favor, will you? Don't tell anyone at 51 about this," Casey said.

Kelly shook his head, "I won't."

The two men sat in silence for a minute just staring ahead, until Kelly broke the silence asking, "So this is what you do all night, just sit around looking at nothing?"

Casey choked on a small laugh. "Pretty much."

"Well, I'm depressed," Kelly said cynically. "Come on, let's go to Molly's, the drinks are on me."

"Kelly-"

"What? When you get caught up you can pay for me one night."

Casey thought about it, nodded slightly, and grabbed his jacket.

* * *

Severide lay awake in his bed staring at the ceiling, thinking. Of all the problems Casey could be having during his separation from Gabby, he'd sure never seen this one coming.

Some things started to occur to him. He'd wondered for years, but never asked because it wasn't any of his business, when they made lieutenant they each got the same pay, and Casey had his construction work on the side, but in all the years they'd known each other, he'd never seen Casey splurge for anything. He had his one truck, for his business and for his day-to-day errands. Wincing at the memories now, he remembered ribbing Casey when they were younger that since he had a lieutenant's salary now, he ought to pop for something roadworthy, something fast and flashy. He smiled faintly as he remembered Casey's cynical response, "Big talk for a guy whose Camaro only has three quarters matching paint on it."

He'd thought about it off and on, and it never seemed to make sense, sure for a long time Casey was with Hallie, and it was always more expensive to be in a relationship than to be single, still, between the two of them, it just seemed like Casey always sat on his money. Now he knew why. He definitely got that there was a lot about Casey's past he didn't casually bring up, he understood that, there was a lot of stuff he didn't willingly volunteer either, but the older they got, he found out more and more just how little he knew about Matt's home life growing up.

Of all the things Gabby could've done, running Casey into debt never entered Kelly's mind. He never gave it any real thought, but hearing it now, he'd seriously thought she had more sense than that. But, he supposed it just went to show how little you could actually know somebody you worked with for several years. Working with them was one thing, living with them was a whole other one. And now Casey was left to pick up the pieces of the mess she'd made that nearly wiped him completely out. And he knew Casey, he wouldn't accept charity, he wouldn't ask for help. But...Kelly scratched his head as he thought, there had to be some way _to_ help him.

* * *

Casey unlocked his door and opened it to see who was knocking. Kelly stood outside with a pizza box and a six-pack of beer. "You eaten yet?"

Casey shook his head, "Come on in. What's the occasion?"

"Well I knew you were here doing nothing tonight," Kelly answered as he set the food on the table, and revealed a bag looped over his wrist, "So I brought some movies for us to watch."

"I'm glad you're here," Casey said as he shut the door. "I had a very interesting conversation with my landlord today."

"Oh?"

"Seems that my rent's been paid up for the next two months. Now since I just got the money to pay it today for one month, I was...surprised, to say the least. _You_ wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

The smirk on Kelly's face as he turned around told Casey all he needed to know.

"Kelly-"

"Hey, you'll get caught up that much quicker, what's wrong with it?" Kelly asked.

"I don't want charity."

"It's not charity, it's family," Kelly said. He set the bag on the table, then reached in his jacket and pulled an envelope out of his sleeve, "Now _this_ might be interpreted as charity."

"What is it?" Casey asked skeptically.

"Open it up," Kelly told him.

Casey took the envelope curiously, ripped the flap open, and felt his jaw drop when he saw the hundred dollar bills in it. More than he could immediately count without sorting through them.

"What the hell is this?" Casey asked.

Kelly raised one finger for Casey to hold his questions, reached in his pocket and took out a folded piece of paper and handed it to Casey too. He unfolded it and saw it was a copy of a bill of sale.

His eyes doubled in size. "You _sold_ your motorcycle?"

"I only took it out a couple times a year, let somebody have it that'll get some real use out of it," Kelly said for an explanation.

Casey dropped his hands to his sides and looked at Severide in disbelief, "Kelly, I can't take this."

"Well I'm not taking it back, so you better," Kelly told him.

"Kelly, you didn't have to do this," Casey was still dumbfounded by this sudden revelation.

"No, I didn't have to," Kelly replied. He looked Casey in the eyes and told him, "I wanted to."

Casey shook his head, clearly lost, "I don't even know what to say...I don't...I can't believe you did this. I...I..." Casey suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to sit down before he fainted.

Kelly stepped over to the couch and told Casey, "Now you can get everything hooked back up, and still put some money away."

Casey looked at the envelope in his hand and absently brought his other one up over his mouth. He closed his eyes and shook his head, then looked up at Kelly, "I can't believe you actually did this. _Why_?"

Kelly shrugged, "What good is it if I can't help my best friend?"

Matt groaned, "Oh, Kelly..."

Severide sat on the arm of the couch and told him, "I wanted to do this, just take it."

"Kelly, I..." a bunch of jumbled incoherent sounds made their way out of Casey's mouth as he tried to talk, but nothing was happening, finally he turned and leaned over and hugged Kelly. "Thank you...you don't know what this means to me."

Kelly leaned over Casey and patted his back and told him, "Come on, let's eat before the pizza gets cold."


	2. Chapter 2

8 months later-

There was a heavy silence in the air as Casey entered Kelly's apartment. Kelly sat on the couch and watched as Casey came in the door carrying a small box, all the stuff he was able to salvage from his apartment after it was set on fire.

Casey looked for a place to set it down but a sudden urge came over him not to let go. Out of nowhere, something came back to him from several years ago.

_"So that's it? You put in 14 years at this station and it all fits in one box?"_

The words ran through him like ice in his veins and he felt himself starting to shake.

Kelly got up from the couch, stepped over to Casey, took the box from him and put it down, and put his arms around his best friend and hugged him tight as the reality of everything finally sunk in, now the adrenaline rush of catching the people responsible was over, and the reality hit him that his home and everything in it, everything he'd worked for over the years, was gone.

He felt the tremors running through Casey's body as the blonde man broke down crying.

"I'm so sorry, Casey."

Kelly was eternally grateful that Matt had been able to escape from the apartment before the _whole_ place was going up in flames, glad that his best friend was alive and well, but he knew how devastating this had to be for Casey right now. His home was gone, everything he had there was gone, life as he knew it was gone, and why? Because a bunch of greedy bastards decided to kill him for investigating their business that was blatantly endangering the lives of their customers. The whole thing was still mind boggling even now.

"Hey, hey," he whispered as he rubbed Casey's back, "It's going to be okay..." He felt as much as he heard Casey suck in a shaky breath as he tried to compose himself, "I promise you it's going to get better."

Casey tried to pull himself together but he couldn't, Kelly held on to him for a couple minutes as Casey pressed his mouth against Kelly's shoulder and all the fear and hurt and anger and devastation came pouring out. All day long he'd been able to hold this off because he had a purpose, nail the bastards responsible. Now that he didn't have that, there was nothing to keep his guard up anymore.

Kelly rubbed his back and told him, "Come on, you can stay with me tonight," and led Casey over to the bedroom.

* * *

Severide knew it wasn't going to be an easy night, and he knew that Casey was trying his hardest to stifle the sounds he was making in the pillow he'd folded under his head. He had his back to Kelly, but the Squad lieutenant could still see the tremors running through Casey's back as he softly cried. How much life could change in just 24 hours, in a way nobody could have ever seen coming. Kelly lay on his side of the bed and watched Matt for a while, wanting to do something, say something, but he knew there wasn't anything he could offer that would make Casey feel better about his current situation. Finally though he decided he had to do something, so he leaned over, gently turned Casey over to face him and hugged him.

"I know, I know," he whispered as Casey rested his head on Kelly's shoulder, "It's going to be alright, it'll be okay."

Casey was still futilely trying to stifle the sobs that accentuated the words coming out of his mouth as he tried to talk, "I'm...sorry..."

Kelly glumly smiled to himself as he rubbed large circles on Casey's back and told him, "It's alright...everything's going to work out, Casey, just try to rest."

He didn't know when Casey finally fell asleep, but when the blonde man finally calmed down and his breathing became slow and even, Kelly offered a silent prayer of thanks and closed his eyes, hoping they'd get through the rest of the night without anything else happening.

* * *

Kelly came home and saw Casey on the couch looking over a bunch of papers. "What's this?"

"I had to get new copies of everything from the bank," Casey answered, "I have to get new copies of everything from everywhere."

"Well," Kelly looked around at the four large Walmart bags on the floor, "looks like you're off to a good start."

"Not me, Herrmann had Cindy get it all," Casey said almost resentfully, "I don't want charity."

"It's not charity."

"They didn't have to do it," Casey told him.

"You're family, they want to help," Kelly said.

"I don't need their help, I could've gotten it myself," Casey said.

"We know it's going to be a while before your insurance pays out," Kelly started to say, but was cut off.

"I don't need it," Casey replied. He picked up a sheet of paper and thrust it at Kelly, "See?"

He saw it was from Casey's bank with the information about his account, including the current amount. It had been months since Kelly actually thought about it, but he guessed that Casey had finally been able to get caught back up to where he was before Gabby stormed out, or if not caught up, at least close.

"I've got enough to replace everything that was lost in the fire," Casey said, "_and_ rent a new apartment."

"What?" Kelly blinked. Surely he hadn't heard right.

"Thanks for letting me stay here last night, but I don't want to cramp you up," Casey told him, "I can get my own place."

"Whoa, wait a minute," Kelly wasn't even sure what was going on. This came out of nowhere and blindsided him.

"I don't want to be a burden," Casey said.

"Casey, stop...was I a burden when you let me stay with you and Gabby?" Kelly asked.

Casey paused at the question, finally responding with a half muttered, "That depended on what mood you were in."

A small snort escaped Kelly, "Fair point...Casey, you can stay here as long as you need to, as long as you want to."

"I don't want to put you out, Kelly," Matt told him.

"You're not, I'll talk to the landlord and we'll get it figured out," Kelly said.

Casey shook his head, "I can't ask you to do that."

"You're not, I'm offering, you're my best friend and I want you here," Kelly told him.

"This isn't you, Kelly," Casey said, "you don't do commitments, and this is a big one."

"This is different," Severide responded. "Look, Casey, you've got a lot to deal with right now and it's confusing enough as is...why don't you stay here until everything gets settled, and when you get the insurance money, _then_ you look for a new apartment?"

Casey looked at him for a minute as if he wasn't sure how to answer. "You'd be willing to do that?"

"Yeah."

Casey shook his head, "It could be a couple months, or longer."

"I don't care," Kelly told him. "You kept me longer than that."

Casey closed his eyes and shook his head, like this was too much for him to take in. When he opened his eyes again Kelly saw them shimmer in the light from a thin layer of tears welling up.

"Thank you," he said quietly.

Kelly pulled Casey against him and said to him, "You didn't really think I was going to kick you out, did you?"

"I didn't want you feeling obligated to keep me," Casey told him.

Kelly laughed and leaned over and lightly kissed Matt on the forehead and told him, "You are so cute when you're being ridiculous."

* * *

Kelly had been asleep when he woke up to the sound of Matt pacing out in the living room, the floorboards squeaked in the same places as he made his rounds. Severide sat up long enough to look at the clock and saw it was going on 2 in the morning, he laid back down and tried to go back to sleep, but that wasn't happening. Finally he threw the covers back, went to the door and went out to the living room to find out what was going on.

"Casey, what's wrong?" he asked as his eyes adjusted to the dark and he was able to make out Casey's figure standing by the window.

Matt turned towards him and didn't say anything at first, then he shook his head and said simply, "I don't know."

Kelly could see he was going to have to take a different approach. He went over to the blonde man and asked him, "What's going on?"

Casey shook his head again, "I just...have a lot on my mind."

"Okay, like what?" Kelly asked.

"It sounds crazy."

"Okay," Kelly jerked Casey by the arm over to the couch so they could both sit down, "tell me."

Casey was quiet for a minute, then he started to talk.

"You have no idea how much I appreciate you letting me stay here-"

"I told you it wasn't a problem," Kelly said, "I told you you can stay here as long as you want-"

"I know," Casey cut him off, "but I'm not sure you mean it."

Kelly did a double take, "Huh?"

Casey sucked in an anxious breath and explained, "What I mean is...if I don't take the initiative and move out soon...I...I think...I..."

"Casey," Kelly felt in the dark and grabbed Casey's wrist, "Whatever it is, just say it."

"I'm trying...I...I've really enjoyed staying here the last few weeks, but I'm worried if I don't get a place of my own soon, I might...I could get used to staying here...do you know what I mean?" he looked at Kelly, "No you don't...it's...it's been nice having someone around, you know? I guess...I guess I just...never really got used to living alone."

Kelly blinked, "What do you mean?"

"I _functioned_ when Hallie and I broke up, but I preferred it when she came back and we got back together...and after she died...it was _awful_...and...don't hit me for what I'm about to say, okay?"

"What?" Kelly asked.

"When...Heather went to jail, and I got the boys...it was almost..." he couldn't think of the word, "having somebody else around who I had to make the first priority, it helped me to stay focused, feel like I had an actual purpose, that my life wasn't totally empty...and having Gabby around to help with the boys...and then when Gabby and I actually got together...and we moved in together..." he sighed, "I know it sounds crazy, but even with all the shit she put me through, I was willing to put up with so much of it, just so I didn't have to be alone. That sounds horrible, doesn't it?"

"No," Kelly shook his head, "it actually makes a lot of sense."

Casey looked at him, surprised by his answer.

Kelly added, "People are willing to put up with a lot of things just to have someone else around. It's a recipe for disaster, it's never a good thing, but most people can actually relate to it. People don't _like_ being alone."

"Or living alone," Casey replied. "That's why I'm worried I could get too comfortable here and I won't want to leave, but I have to-"

"You don't _have_ to do anything," Kelly told him, "Casey, I'm not kicking you out. If that's what you decide, it's fine."

"You say that now," Casey said, "but can you see us living together for a year? More than that?"

"Why not?" Kelly asked.

"Don't you think Stella's going to complain after a while?" Casey asked.

"Don't worry about Stella," Kelly told him. "Casey, when the time's right to get your own place again, you'll know it, and if it doesn't happen, there's nothing wrong with that. We've been roommates before." Casey opened his mouth to respond but Kelly cut him off, "If I hadn't left when I did, would you have kicked me out eventually?"

Casey paused, "I never really thought about it like that."

"See? If I hadn't moved out, I would've still been there when Gabby stormed out, and if I'd been there for that, I would sure as hell have been around after she left. Hell, we would've still been roommates till the night the apartment was torched."

"Now _that's_ a depressing thought," Casey said.

Kelly laughed, then commented, "But would you have felt like it was an imposition?"

Casey shook his head, "Of course not."

"Okay, so what makes this different?" Kelly asked.

"What's different is I've been sleeping on your couch for six weeks and you're pretending it's _not_ an imposition," Casey answered.

"It's not."

"Not _yet_, what if it _is_ a year? Or two? Are you still going to say it's not one then?" Casey wanted to know.

"Casey, you can't think that far ahead, what's going to happen is going to happen, and if you decide it's time to move out, you'll know it when it happens," Kelly told him, "and either way you will have my blessing on it, but I don't want you moving out just because you think you're not wanted here."

Casey sighed and told Kelly, "This has just been up and down the last few months. My wife leaves me, practically runs me into the ground with debt, and it feels like I've lost everything. Six weeks ago some bastards torch my apartment and I _literally_ lose everything. Now I'm staying with you, and-"

"And what?" Kelly asked.

"I don't have a wife anymore, I don't have a home anymore, but for once..." he looked at Severide, "I feel like I have everything."

"And that's a bad thing?" Kelly asked.

"It's scary," Casey answered honestly, "the last time I felt like that...was with Hallie, then she was murdered."

Kelly lowered his head and grimly nodded. "I get it."

"And then...I just started to feel the same way with Naomi, and we were nearly killed. I'm worried what it'll mean if I get too comfortable here," Casey said, "if I let my guard down."

He felt a strong arm lock around his shoulder and pull him over towards Severide.

"Come here," Kelly said. "Casey, nothing is going to happen, you don't need to worry about that."

Casey nodded, "I know, but I do."

"Matt, everything's going to be fine, you need to calm down."

"I know..."

"We're going to figure this out," Kelly told him, "everything's going to be alright."

Matt tiredly nodded.

Soon Kelly realized Casey had fallen asleep leaning against him. With his free hand he grabbed the blanket off the back and draped it over both of them.


	3. Chapter 3

6 weeks later-

Casey came out of the bathroom and even though the lights were out, saw Kelly pacing around the living room. Curiously, he walked up behind the man and when Kelly turned around, he asked him, "Why are you pacing around my bedroom?"

"Let me ask you a question, Case," Kelly said, hesitantly, "do you feel cramped here?"

Casey sighed, he knew it. "I can be moved out in the morning, I'll find a place to stay."

"Hold it, that's not what I asked," Kelly grabbed him, "I just want to know, Casey, I mean...are you happy here?"

Casey looked lost. "I would've thought that was obvious."

"What I mean is...obviously it's not the same as your own apartment, but do you feel like something's missing?" Kelly asked.

Casey shrugged his shoulders, "Like what?"

Severide shrugged helplessly in return and responded, "I don't know...it just occurred to me, maybe it was easier when I was staying with you, because..."

Suddenly he couldn't finish that sentence. He'd thought about what Casey said a couple months back and though initially he'd thought this would be a fair trade off from when Matt let him move in with them several years back, it was starting to dawn on him that there was a massive difference. Casey had a guest room, Kelly had a place he could actually call _his_ there, by contrast, all he could offer Casey was the couch, and though he'd tried like hell the last few months to make the place seem as much home to Matt as it was to him, the back of his mind nagged at him that everything was a constant reminder to Casey that everything in the apartment was Severide's and he was merely staying there until further notice, and aside from his clothes and the personal effects he'd accrued over the past six weeks, nothing there was his.

"This is harder to explain than I thought it'd be," Kelly said, "Let me try this again. I _want_ you here if _you_ want to stay here, but I don't want you feeling like you're just a guest here, you're family, and this place is as much your home as it is mine, and I hope I've been able to make you feel that way during your stay."

Casey snorted, "Hell, you've made me feel more at home than my own family ever did. But I don't get it, where's all this coming from?"

"I don't know," Kelly answered, "I just don't want you to feel like this isn't your home. I mean I'd understand if you wanted to move out, get your own place, you could have an actual _room_, some privacy, a place to bring a woman home to-"

"The last time I did that I was nearly torched in my sleep," Casey pointed out as he sat on the couch, "I have no intention of bringing anybody home anywhere for a _long_ time."

"Okay, but what about the rest of it?" Kelly asked as he sat down beside Matt.

Casey shrugged and shook his head, "I don't know...I'll admit I _do_ miss a few things about having my own place, but I like staying here, I like having somebody to stay _with_. I feel..."

"What?" Kelly asked.

Casey looked at him sheepishly and answered, "Safe..."

Kelly was thankful the room was dark because he knew the smile that suddenly formed on his face when he heard that would've made him look absolutely stupid.

"So apparently I'm doing something right," he said.

Casey snorted and laughed, "I guess so."

* * *

Casey didn't know where he was but he knew he was comfortable. Soft sheets, a warm blanket, two pillows under his head...he opened one eye suspiciously and looked around the room, then opened the other eye.

"Where am I?" he asked.

"My room," Kelly answered from the other side of the bed.

Casey turned his head and saw Severide, then he turned on his side and asked the Squad lieutenant, "How'd I get here?"

"I carried you in," Kelly said.

"Why?" Matt wanted to know.

"You were pretty out of it," Kelly told him.

"But what am I doing here?" Casey asked.

"I thought you might need to stretch out and relax," Kelly answered.

Casey shook his head, confused, "Why?"

Kelly sat up in the bed and looked at him, "You don't remember, do you?"

"Remember what?" Casey asked.

Almost as soon as he'd said the words, it came back to him.

"Oh...oh my God..."

The last call came back. A multi-vehicle accident on the highway, bad enough that a second company was called in to assist. Even with the anti-ice treatment, the roads were bad, while everybody was working to get the victims out of their cars and trucks, a semi came down the wrong lane, couldn't stop in time, and hit two of the firefighters from the neighboring house, and one of the police officers assisting. They'd been rushed to the hospital but the cop and one of the firemen died en route to Med. The hazardous conditions of the roads were to blame, it wasn't the semi driver's fault, it wasn't anybody's fault, but that never took away the urge to lash out at somebody, to blame somebody when tragedies like this happened. It was easier to blame someone than accept it couldn't be helped. A lesson they'd all learned the hard way over the years.

They were on the highway from 2:00 to 3:30 that morning, when they finally returned to 51 Boden announced he was sending everybody home and calling in 3rd Watch early. He wasn't going to chance another call coming in and everybody going back out in the conditions they were in. Severide knew nobody appreciated that 4 A.M. call, but he agreed with the chief. He couldn't take another rescue call after that, and one look at Casey told him the captain couldn't either.

As soon as they'd gotten in the door, Casey staggered over to the couch and collapsed face down on it and broke down sobbing. After half an hour or so he wore out and fell asleep. Kelly decided to take Casey to bed with him, he lifted Matt off the couch and carried him into the bedroom and got him settled under the covers. If _anything_ qualified as a reason for them to bunk together, this was definitely near the top.

As the memories from last night came flooding back, Casey's head dropped down and started crying again. Kelly pulled the blonde man against him and held him tight.

"I know, I know," Kelly whispered as he rested his chin on the top of Casey's head, and felt a small spasm building in his chest.

* * *

"So...I've been thinking," Kelly said the next day when Casey entered the kitchen.

"Uh oh," Casey said with a mild look of panic on his face.

"Nothing like that," Kelly replied. "As long as neither of us is bringing anyone home at night, is there any reason we couldn't bunk together in my room?"

Casey got a confused look on his face and shook his head, "I don't know...I don't...what're you asking, Kelly?"

"Well I feel like a heel that you've been here for over three months and you're still just sleeping on the couch, I know we've only bunked together a couple times-"

"Under extreme duress," Casey added, trying to lighten the mood.

"And we did alright considering," Kelly replied, "but I think then we ought to be able to tolerate one another under normal circumstances."

"I don't know, Kelly," Casey said, "I'm not sure what you're getting at."

"Well, it's just I feel kind of bad that when you let me move in you had a guest room I could stay in, and all I can offer you is the couch."

"I would've invited you even if we didn't have a spare room," Casey told him.

"I know, and I probably would've stayed just as long," Kelly said, "but the only two solutions I could think of is one, we rotate who takes the bed and who takes the couch, or..." he shrugged, "I mean it's whatever you want to do...this is just the only thing I can think of to make sure you don't feel like you're just a guest here."

"I don't know what to say," Casey responded, "I mean...I appreciate the consideration, but..." he sighed, "we'll talk about it later, we'll...figure something out."

* * *

"I'm cold," Casey said in a deep congested voice as he stood by the dresser.

"Me too," Kelly responded in an equally congested voice as he pulled the covers up higher.

"This is the worst cold I've had in years," Casey said.

"This is the _only_ cold I've had in years," Kelly remarked, "And it's bad enough."

Casey shivered as he got in the other side of the bed and burrowed under the covers. The two firefighters tossed and turned every which way trying to get comfortable before they both wound up in the middle of the bed clutching onto each other.

"Oh this isn't awkward whatsoever," Casey groaned.

"I won't tell anyone if you won't," Kelly replied, just before a sudden cough erupted out of him.

Casey yelled as the Squad lieutenant coughed right in his face, "Just what I needed."

"Sorry," Kelly got out over a couple smaller coughs.

"Oh shut up and move over," Casey said as he pushed Severide.

Kelly groaned as he rolled over in response to Casey hitting him in the back to move. He settled on his side and felt Casey press against his back.

"Kelly..."

"What?" Severide groaned as he closed his eyes, waiting to fall asleep.

There was a pause, and only Casey's distressed breathing was heard, then finally he heard Matt say, "Thanks."

Kelly was about to ask 'for what?', then it clicked, and despite his own misery, he smiled faintly.

"You're welcome, now shut up and let's get some sleep," he replied.

They both grunted a few times trying to breathe, then seemed to settle down, then Casey broke out coughing and Kelly yelped and grimaced at the sudden burst of air on his ear.

"Ew!"

Casey coughed so hard it sounded like he was forcing up a lung, then it stopped, and he pounded his chest a couple times and weakly got out, "Sorry."

Kelly sighed and responded, "It's alright. Hell, we're already sick, what's the worst that can happen?"

* * *

"He's still not answering," Kelly said as he put down his phone.

"Well I hope you guys didn't get your nights mixed up and we're not going to walk in on him with someone," Stella said as she drove back to Kelly's apartment. "I mean this is awkward enough as is with him being there all the time."

"He's there all the time because it's his home," Kelly told her defensively.

"I know," she replied, "I'm just saying it's not like it used to be when we could come and go at any time."

Kelly looked out the windshield as they pulled up to the curb. "No lights on."

"Let's announce ourselves anyway," Stella said as she reached for the door handle, "I do _not_ need to walk in on the guy I answer to on Truck."

Kelly laughed as they got out and headed up the sidewalk.

"Hey Casey, you here?" Kelly called out as he opened the door. He was met by an eerie silence. "Casey?"

"Maybe he went out," Stella said as she turned on the lights.

"His truck's still here," Kelly pointed out.

Kelly went from room to room, sticking his head in and calling Matt's name. No answer. Something wasn't sitting well with him.

"Something's not right," he insisted as he walked into the kitchen and turned on the lights.

"How do you know?" Stella asked as she followed after him.

"Shit!"

"What?" she asked.

Kelly was looking at the calendar on the side of the cupboard. "I forgot!"

"Forgot what?" Stella asked.

"Today..." Kelly turned away from the calendar and looked at Stella, "It's Hallie's birthday."

"Hallie?" Stella asked, not drawing an immediate connection.

"Casey's fiancee, I told you about her," Kelly said.

Stella's eyes snapped with recognition, "Oh!"

"Oh my God, I'm an idiot!" Kelly grabbed two handfuls of his hair and yanked it hard enough he was surprised it didn't come out.

"Where would he go?" Stella asked.

"I don't-wait, I think I know," Kelly said as he headed for the door.

"I'm coming with you!" she told him as she ran right behind him.

* * *

"Are you sure about this?" Stella asked as they slipped in the front door to 51.

"It's worth a try," Kelly replied.

"You think he'd be here?"

"I did it when I was staying with him," Kelly said.

"Why?"

"Later," he said as they tried to quietly hurry towards the bunk room to see if anybody was there who wasn't on 3rd Watch. Doing a head count here was slightly more difficult than if it had been one of their shifts, 3rd Watch had a few skinny blondes who Kelly couldn't tell if it was Casey or not until he was right on top of them, and several didn't appreciate being woken up.

"Kelly," Stella whispered and he saw her pointing to a bunk near the end of the room. He made his way past the other beds and found Casey curled on his side in a ball.

"Casey," he nudged the captain.

"Go away," Casey grunted as he turned away.

"Casey, what're you doing here?" Kelly asked.

"Trying to sleep," Casey remarked as he buried his head under the pillow.

"Matt," Kelly grunted in frustration. He grabbed Casey under the armpits and dragged him out of the bunk and to his feet and walked him over towards Stella.

"Let's go," he whispered.

"Right," she nodded as they left the bunk room and headed for the door.

* * *

Casey was more or less asleep when they got in the car and headed back to the apartment. The three of them were piled in the front seat and Kelly helped keep Matt upright and watched him as he breathed deeply.

"What do you think that was about?" Stella asked.

"I don't know," Kelly shook his head.

Stella sighed and said, "Well, I guess that settles it."

Kelly merely nodded in response.

They pulled up to the curb and Stella asked Kelly, "You need help getting him in?"

"No, I got it," Severide answered as he reached for the door, "Thanks for your help."

"Yeah, no problem," she replied. When they were out of the car she drove off and headed back to her own apartment for the night.

* * *

"Come on, Casey," Kelly said as he walked the captain over to the bedroom, "Let's get you to bed."

Matt groaned something incoherently as Kelly walked him, like a giant puppet, over to the bed and laid him back against the pillows. He removed Casey's jacket and shoes and socks, pulled the covers up and tucked him in. Casey grumbled something else as he tossed and turned within the confines of his side of the bed.

"Sorry...'m sorry."

Kelly placed a hand on Matt's shoulder and squeezed it lightly, "It's alright, Casey, just go to sleep. Everything will be alright tomorrow."

When Casey calmed down, Kelly went around to the other side of the bed and climbed in beside him.

* * *

"Sorry I ruined your plans with Kidd," Casey said the next morning as he staggered out to the kitchen, looking more towards the floor than to Kelly.

"Don't worry about it," Kelly handed him a mug of coffee and told him, "I'm sorry I forgot about Hallie's birthday."

Casey swallowed a sip of the hot coffee and said, "That hurt...but that's not why I went out last night."

"What happened?" Kelly asked.

Casey forced himself to look the Squad lieutenant in the eyes as he admitted, "I got scared."

"Of what?" Kelly was surprised to hear this.

Casey sighed, and explained, "Everything's been going so well lately...and I just started to feel like if I didn't get out of here...something bad would happen."

"Like what?"

"I don't know, something like what happened with Hallie, or what happened with my apartment...and I didn't want that happening, I didn't want to put you through that, Kelly."

Severide's eyebrows raised, "Put _me_ through it?"

"It just seems like I'm cursed. My mom killed my dad, Hallie was murdered, Gabby and I lost a baby, we lost Louie, our marriage went to hell, she ran me into the ground, it just seems whenever I live with somebody, something horrible happens," Casey told him.

"You were with Hallie for 8 years," Kelly pointed out.

"And we broke up," Casey said.

"And she would've still been murdered even if you hadn't gotten back together," Kelly told him. "I'm sorry, Matt, but that's the truth, you didn't have anything to do with it, but you're the reason why her killer was caught. And you didn't have anything to do with Gabby losing the baby, or Louie's family, and it's not your fault that Gabby was selfish and greedy."

"But my mom killed my dad because of _me_, she told me she did it because of me..."

"That's...she may have had her reasons and she may have thought somewhere in her mind that she was protecting you by doing it, but it's messed up, she shouldn't have told you that," Kelly said. "It's not your fault, you didn't _make_ her shoot him."

"She did it because she loved me," Casey said, "And she didn't want to see my dad destroy me, destroy what I was...she saw that happening and she killed him...how am I supposed to deal with that?"

"How'd you deal with it the 15 years she was in prison and you didn't know why she did it?" Kelly asked.

"I just thought...I saw him, heard him, berating her every day...doing to her what he did to me...she could take it when it was just her...but when he started on me, then she snapped...I never thought about it like that before...I just always thought she finally couldn't take the way he treated her anymore, then I find out it's me...how am I not supposed to feel guilty for that?"

"Because you didn't do it, it wasn't your fault," Kelly told him.

"But there's the pattern, _every_ time I live with somebody, something terrible happens," Casey said, "so why wouldn't it happen again now?"

"Because it's just a coincidence," Kelly insisted.

"See, logically, up here," Casey tapped the side of his head, "I know that...but I can't make myself believe it...just feels like there has to be some explanation for it all...and you've been a very good friend, I didn't want the same thing happening to you."

"Well I'm flattered, but you don't have to worry about me, Casey," Severide told him. "Nothing's going to happen just because you're staying here. It was a bad day, and I made it worse, I wasn't here...that's all it was, and I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," Casey said quietly, "it's not your problem, you have your own life."

"No, that's wrong," Kelly cut him off, "You're my best friend, so what's important to you is important to me." He sighed, "What can I do to make this right?"

Casey shook his head helplessly, as if the entire conversation had become too overwhelming to him, "I don't know..."

"After next shift," Kelly said, "you and me, we'll go out and do something together, you name it."

Casey shook his head again, "You already blew off one date with Stella on account of me, you better not press your luck, she might not be so understanding next time."

"Don't worry about Stella," Kelly said, "anything you want to do."

"Alright," Casey said quietly, then louder he told Severide, "Alright, I'll think about it and get back to you."

"I am so sorry, Matt," Kelly told him as he hugged Casey.

"Yeah well," Casey sighed, "It's just been an off year."

"I'm sorry," Kelly murmured, then leaned over and kissed Matt above his temple, "I love you, buddy."

"I love you too you big idiot," Casey remarked lightly, drawing a chuckle out of Severide.


	4. Chapter 4

Kelly headed into the bedroom and just got one foot in the door when he heard a sound that jolted his attention, it took a second to realize it was Casey crying where he sat on the edge of the bed with his head down, Kelly stepped back out of the room before it occurred to him it was too late to pretend he hadn't walked in on this. He stepped just enough in the room to look at the man who raised his head to look over at him, and say, "Sorry, I'll come back later."

"No, stay," Casey's voice was surprisingly strong as he wiped the back of his hand across his cheek. He sniffed, sat up straighter and added, "It's okay."

Kelly didn't move much except to poke his head in a little more as he asked uncertainly, "Are you _sure_?"

Matt nodded, "Yeah."

Kelly felt he was walking on eggshells, and taking a massive risk by asking, but he had to ask, "What's the matter, Matt?"

Casey looked at him, his chest rose and dropped with a heaving sigh before he answered, "I was just thinking...about when this all started."

"You mean when your apartment was torched?"

Casey shook his head, "No, when Gabby left, that night you came over to the apartment...I know," he raised a hand to gesture in accompaniment as he spoke, "No point dwelling on the past, there's nothing I can do about it, or I'd go back and change it...but I can't help it, I think about it all the time...I resent her, Kelly, I resent what she did...I _hate_ her for it."

Kelly stood in the doorway and said nothing, figuring that was his safest option, figuring Casey would explain on his own, he did.

"I know I shouldn't complain, because in the end everything worked out, I'm here, I'm with you, I'm...putting my life back together, but I just hate her so much for what she did, Kelly. I hate that she put me in this position to begin with. I spent my whole life making sure I had my expenses covered, and I told her...I tried to tell her what it was like in my family, what we'd all gone through, she didn't get it, I don't think she even listened...all she cared about was what she wanted when she wanted it, she never thought about the fact the bills were going to pile up if we didn't watch it. Then she just runs me into a hole and leaves me to clean up the mess when she runs out. And she didn't know I could, as far as she knew she took all the money I had when she emptied out that account, as far as she knew I was stuck with enough credit card debt to bury me...I don't get it, Kelly, _how_ could you do that to someone, how could you do that to the person you married?" There was a pause, he sighed again, and laughed miserably, "Some marriage, all that mattered to Gabby was what she could get out of it, it was never a partnership to her." Matt was silent for a minute with a blank look on his face, then he turned to Kelly and asked him, "Do you...do you think she ever actually loved me? Or was it all just to see what she could get out of the relationship?"

Kelly shook his head, dumbstruck by the question. "I don't know...I'm not an expert on relationships, you know that. Renee...I don't know." He walked over to the bed and sat on the edge of it and looked at Matt. "I'm sorry, Casey."

Matt just shook his head, looking completely lost, "I just don't get it, Kelly. When we first got together we didn't discuss our finances at all, I don't even remember where it started. Suddenly, I'm looking at the bills and I'm getting worried, I know how quickly this can get past us and we wouldn't even realize it."

Kelly sat there and watched Casey as he talked, he didn't interrupt, and he didn't say anything immediately after. There was a moment's silence between them before he said, cautiously, a bit hesitantly, "I'm sorry...I know you're not supposed to ask about stuff like this...but can I ask you...how much did..."

Casey interlaced his fingers together and pressed both hands against his mouth absently as he thought, then he lowered them and told Kelly, "We had about $10,000 in our joint account. Knowing she'd run it down to nothing and then taken even that, that was bad, but I wasn't all that concerned because I still had my main account. Then I found out about the credit cards. We had two, a main one, and a backup for emergencies, incase one got lost, or stolen, or...maxed out and we needed something. She maxed both of them out...to the tune of...forty...five...thousand...bucks."

Kelly grimaced at that news.

Casey wrapped one hand over his mouth and jaws in recoil of the memory. He told Kelly, "I couldn't believe it. I'd gone from having enough money that I didn't have to worry about any sudden financial problems...and then it was all gone, just like that," he snapped his fingers. "All I had left was enough to cover rent and food for the next few months. I couldn't even breathe, everything was going through my mind. If _anything_ happened, a trip to Med that my insurance wouldn't cover, I have to take my truck into the shop, the rent's increased, my phone gets stolen, I get a traffic ticket, a surprise audit in the mail, one of my tires blow, anything..." he shook his head helplessly, "I couldn't even think. I figured if I could get some construction jobs lined up it'd help but nobody was hiring at the time. I was going to ask the chief about taking on extra shifts during the month and hoping that would help balance things out...but before I could do that, you found out...and you gave the landlord two months' rent." Matt slowly shook his head, "You have no idea what that meant to me, Kelly." Casey became overwhelmed by the memories and started crying again.

Kelly draped an arm around Casey's shoulders and pulled the blonde man against him and hugged him and quietly murmured, "It's okay, Matt, it's okay, calm down."

A couple minutes later Casey was able to pull himself together, sheepishly he pulled away from Kelly and ran a hand over his cheeks and said, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

"I know I'm being stupid about the whole thing, but it was just so embarrassing, Kelly, I couldn't explain what was happening to _anybody_ else at 51, they wouldn't get it," Matt told him. "Suddenly I'm going over the cost of everything in my head to figure out what I can and can't afford...and how do you explain to the people you work with that suddenly you can't afford anything anymore? I couldn't afford new tools for my construction work, I couldn't afford to go with you to the Blackhawks game, I couldn't afford a week's worth of cover charges at Molly's, I couldn't tell anybody about that. Especially with the way they all dote on Gabby, they'd never believe she could do something like that, so there especially wasn't any point in telling anyone. I hadn't planned to tell you about it either."

"We knew something was wrong, but nobody knew what, I was worried about you," Kelly replied.

Casey glanced down and said humbly, "Thank you."

Kelly hugged him again and told him, "I love you, Matt."

A breath hitched in Casey's throat, and he responded, "I love you too, Kelly."

Kelly still felt a bit like an idiot for walking into the middle of this and he told Matt, "Listen, I can take the couch tonight if you want to be alone."

Casey shook his head, "No...don't be stupid...this is your room-"

"It's _our_ room," Severide pointed out, "and I understand if you need some privacy."

"No...no," Matt clung to him even tighter and responded, "You're all I have left, I need you, Kelly."

That took the Squad lieutenant by surprise and he couldn't figure out how to respond, finally he did by absently patting Matt's shoulders as he reassured his best friend, "I'm right here, Matt, everything's fine."

* * *

Casey sat in the driver's seat of his pickup and just blankly stared straight ahead, not looking at anything through the windshield, not _aware_ of anything that was going on, just sat there in a stupor. He slowly looked around the truck, and after several long minutes, he finally reached for the door handle and stepped out.

He stood at the curb and looked at his truck. He ran a hand over the hood, fondly, nostalgically, remembering all the years he'd had it and how good it had been all that time. His eyes squeezed shut and a sudden dry sob rose up from his chest.

"Hey."

He opened his eyes and turned around and saw Kelly standing behind him.

"So what'd the guy say?" he asked.

Casey turned back to the truck, gestured with one hand as he tried to explain, finally telling him, "He said it has so many things wrong with it, that it wouldn't be worth the price it'd cost...that I should just junk it and get another one."

"I'm sorry, Casey."

Kelly really was, he knew that Casey had been hoping his truck just needed a few simple repairs, he'd been having problems with it for a while, and lately the problems just seemed to keep multiplying. He could appreciate what it meant for Casey, his truck was everything to him, he'd never had a car, the truck was everything, it was for his work, it was for beating around in, it was for everything in his daily life, he'd had it when he didn't have anything or anyone else, it was the only thing he'd had left after his apartment and everything in it had been set on fire, the only thing left that he owned, that he could call his own, and now he'd just lost it too.

"Come here," Kelly put an arm around Casey and pulled the blonde man against him when he heard another dry sob work loose, he hugged his friend and told him, "I know, I know...I'm sorry..."

Casey struggled to form coherent words but he finally got them out, "This shouldn't be so hard, it's just a truck, it's..."

"It's more than that, Matt, and you know it," Kelly told him. "It'll be alright, we'll find another one."

"I don't _want_ another one!" Casey sniped as he pulled back from Kelly. "I want _my_ truck, I want _one thing_ that's still mine!"

Kelly wasn't surprised by Matt's outburst, but he could tell from the rasping sigh that followed that Casey had immediately regretted it.

"I'm sorry," he said, his voice thick with tears, "I'm sorry."

"It's alright, Matt," Kelly hugged him again, "I get it."

He could've afforded to replace his Camaro years before Hadley torched it, but he didn't, because it meant something to him, maybe not exactly what Casey's truck did, but he'd guess very similar.

"Come on," Kelly tried to move Casey towards the stoop, "Come on, Matt, let's go inside and...we'll figure this out."

* * *

"How long did you have that truck?" Kelly asked Casey later that night when the two of them were in bed, trying to sleep and getting nowhere fast.

"15 years, why?" Casey asked.

"And how many miles did you put on it in that time?"

"There's still no reason it should be beyond all hope," Casey replied, "It hasn't been that long."

"Yeah, I know..." Kelly said, "but at least nobody set it on fire, or stole it and totaled it."

Casey got quiet at that, and after a pause he responded, "I know...I still don't want to give it up."

"I know you don't," Kelly replied, "but Matt, it's at the point there's water in the oil, one day it's just going to quit on you and you could get killed if that happens on the highway, the freeway, in any intersection."

"I know," Casey replied with a small whine. "But I'm still not ready to give it up."

"I know," Kelly said. "But until we find you a new one, you're gonna be riding with me."

Casey let out a small whining moan at that announcement, it made Kelly laugh.

"You found the right truck once, you'll find the right one again," he told his friend.

From the other side of the bed he heard a sigh, and a more pronounced whine as Casey responded, "It's still not fair."

"I know it's not," Kelly replied, "but it'll be okay."

* * *

"What do you think?" Casey asked as he brought the truck to a stop after turning the corner.

Kelly leaned back in the passenger seat and shook his head, "It's whatever you want to do, you're gonna be driving it every day." He had to admit it did ride smooth and it was in much better shape in and out than Casey's pickup, but he wasn't about to mention any of that. He had, however, caught Casey grinning several times during the test drive, a vast improvement over the last three trucks they'd tried out over the past week.

"I like it," Casey said as he rapped on the steering wheel with both hands, "I'm gonna get it."

"How much they asking?" Kelly asked.

"I can afford it," Casey said.

"I'm sure you can, how much they asking?"

"More than I paid for the last one," Casey answered.

"Well prices _have_ gone up since then," Kelly commented.

Casey reached over and elbowed him in his side with a small chuckle.

"This just feels right, Kelly," he said, running his hands over the steering wheel again. "It's just like the last time."

"Then get it," Kelly said. "You've busted your ass your whole life, you should have what you want."

"Yeah..." Casey said absently, lost in his thoughts.


End file.
